It seems that many critics ...
And the winner was... Crash: Thandie Newton, Matt Dillon
Question: It seems that many critics are not happy with the Academy for failing to recognize Brokeback Mountain as the right film at the right time. What are some other famous snubs that the Academy is still embarrassed about? Thanks.
Answer: I personally think the Academy is shameless, and I've never ever heard — nor do I think I ever will — an official spokesperson concede that its membership made a big fat mistake giving the best-picture Oscar to one film rather than another. But I think there's a pretty overwhelming consensus among everyone else who cares that calling Ordinary People — a genuinely good movie, I hasten to add — the best motion picture of 1980 when it was up against Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, which is widely considered the single best film of the 1980s, was not the Academy's finest hour.
I also don't think I would get much argument that giving the 1952 award to The Greatest Show on Earth over High Noon was a pretty bad call: No one bothers watching Greatest Show today (except circus buffs and zonked-out channel surfers), whereas High Noon is a film for the ages. I personally don't think much of the 1964 award to My Fair Lady over Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, not because My Fair Lady is a bad movie in its genre — a light, crowd-pleasing musical — but because, like High Noon, Strangelove is truly great.
Rocky's 1976 win over Network, Taxi Driver, All the President's Men and even Bound for Glory (a terrific movie that has unjustly drifted into obscurity) is a classic triumph of a very entertaining picture over a field of more challenging and, ultimately, more significant films. And finally, I have to say I don't see any scandal in Crash's upset win over Brokeback Mountain. They're both terrific, serious movies and, in my opinion, equally deserving of an accolade only one could win. As a matter of fact, I would have been just as happy to see the award go to Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck or Munich, and I can't think of the last time I thought every single best-picture nominee was equally deserving. From where I'm sitting, this was an unusually good year at the Oscars.